Editing Blog:"and greet no one along the way" (section)

== "like lambs among wolves" ==
<blockquote>"behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves"<ref>To the Twelve, he said,
<blockquote>“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves." ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/10?16 Mt. 10:16])</ref></blockquote>

In the literal sense, bringing no money, bag, or sandals, and greeting no one, means just that. With the purpose to focus on the mission, our commentators tell us the why. But if we extend the directive allegorically, as did the Bishop at our Ordination Mass, there's a lot going on.   

Just as traveling light means not carrying the burdens of the world, not greeting strangers on the road means not carrying on with the ways of the world. I'd like to take it even further, especially for priests: on your way to saving souls do not yourself get distracted by or entangled in the world's enticements. Certainly the warning about "wolves" is about those in the towns and villages who will reject the Good News -- but also about those they may meet along the way. We'll focus on the latter.   

In [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2corinthians/11?25 2 Cor 11:25-27], Saint Paul recounts the dangers of the ways to and of apostleship,

<blockquote>Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.</blockquote>

As did Paul, the Seventy-Two had the Lord's protection and the Holy Spirit to guide them<ref>Although Paul had a debt to pay: "and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name", the Lord told Ananias ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/9 Acts 9:16]), who baptized Saul.</ref>. Still, the whole point about Jesus, the name which means "God saves," is that we live in a fallen world. The disciples, and Paul, needed protection from it. With that protection, Jesus tells them,

<blockquote>Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/10?19 Lk 10:19])</blockquote>[[File:Erastus,_Olympus,_Rhodion,_Sosipater,_Quartus_and_Tertius_(Menologion_of_Basil_II).jpg|left|thumb|<small>Dangers on the road! (Martydom of Saints Erastus, Olympus, Rhodion, Sosipater, Quartus and Tertius (from the "Menologion of Basil II", a 10th-12th century Byzantine manuscript depicting the lives of the Saints, as well as the liturgical calendar and themes (Wikipedia)</small>]]
The serpents, of course, are those cast upon the unfaithful Israelites in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/numbers/21?6 Num 21:6], saved only by looking up at the "bronze seraph" (serpent) upon the pole ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/numbers/21?8 Num 21:8-9]) The serpent, or snake, has its clear biblical implications, literal and allegorical. 

Scorpions, though, make an interesting reference. The Lord speaks in the Gospels of scorpions twice, and both in Luke, as here in Chapter 10, and again in Chapter 11 in a different metaphor to explain how the loving Father answers prayer:

<blockquote>What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/11?11 Lk 11:11-12])</blockquote>

Scorpions both hide beneath benign objects and blend-in with their environment. They are active at night, are opportunistic predators with voracious appetites, and they really hate one another.<ref>See [https://www.britannica.com/animal/scorpion Scorpion | Description, Habitat, Species, Diet, & Facts | Britannica]</ref> They're also inherently vicious looking, with that stinger always poised for attack. They make not just a dangerous pest but a perfect metaphor for a severe danger in a sinful world. 

Scorpions take advantage of the mundane, lying in wait within it. Worse, they get into our stuff, and we can then carry them around, literally and figuratively, in our baggage. Extending the metaphor, then, if, say, we stop at an unfamiliar place for a beer along the way, we may be subjecting ourselves to an unknown danger. Not every rock has a scorpion, and not every pub offers worser enticements than a draft, but we can easily imagine how it could be, depending the given place. The Lord is telling the disciples to occasions that might lead to trouble and instead get on with the mission, as there will be trouble enough at the destination. So don't stop to say hi, and don't risk the snare, even if unlikely.

As the scorpion, so too does sin lurk within "occasions"<ref>See Saint Pope John Paul II's [https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_02121984_reconciliatio-et-paenitentia.html Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (December 2, 1984) | John Paul II (vatican.va)]</ref> which the Lord tells us to avoid at the cost of, say, an eye or a hand or a foot ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/9?43 Mk 9:43-47]). With snakes, scorpions and wolves abounding the world about us, and with our own concupiscence<ref>our tendency towards sin</ref> leaning us in, the Lord knows we cannot avoid all dangers, thus, as he told the Twelve, and, surely, the Seventy-Two, as well (although unrecorded),

<blockquote>“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves." ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/10?16 Mt 10:16])</blockquote>

It is stunningly good advice. 

Along the way to pronouncing that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, to curing illness and driving out demons, the disciples were not to get distracted, not to let themselves get caught up in conversations or situations that might distract or misdirect them.